Maine

[gracejr]

Mine have been sporadic with laying this last month as well. None are old enough for a "real" moult, so I think it must be a combination of the cooler weather and less light. Right now our coop isn't lighted, but I'll be running light out in the mornings once I get around to getting an extension cord.

 

[Widget]

I'm beginning to think my two Australorp roosters might actually be girls. Not a crow or even an attempt to crow. They are almost six months old so I would think they would at least try to make a sound. They both have visible combs but not as large as what I have seen in roosters. But the other three Australorps have almost no combs at all. Time will tell I guess. If they lay an egg then I will know for sure.

Now on to another topic. Just when I think my mud issue is going away Mother Nature decides to send a hurricane this way.

No offense to NJ but it would really be nice if Sandy takes a sharp turn to the west and makes landfall there and not up here. I don't mind heavy rain and 30-40 mph winds but I really, really, really do not want a major storm here that is packing 70 mph winds. In any case I will be battening down the hatches so to speak this weekend. Everything that can be tied down will be and any and all containers that will hold water will be filled. Last years tropical storm/hurricane left me without power for four days and being on a well with no generator is not fun. Thank goodness I did fill everything I had with water so all the animals were fine.

 

[Widget]

Just went outside to feed hay to the horses. Had someone pull into the driveway. So naturally I think it is bad news due to all the issues I've had lately. But it turns out it was another horse owner who had helped me out a few years ago. She was driving by and just stopped in to see how things were going. So I gave her an abridged version of events since I know from experience that she is a bit critical of things. She didn't let me down.

Let's see my shelter is collapsing. (Umm. Yes and no. It looks worse than it is. And with the storm coming other than tying it down and making sure it is as secure as possible there isn't much I can do) Two. One of the horses is really thin. (Yup. gave her the vet's diagnosis. So that was okay. And the vet I use is okay but she prefers the one she uses. Funny how I was not impressed with her vet) Third. My farrier is terrible or that is what she has heard.(I've been using him for three or four years. Never had an issue.). I'm sure she thinks my fencing is terrible. Right now it isn't perfect. I'm digging post holes as time allows and putting up fence rails instead of just electric fencing. But money is tight and I can't do everything all at one time. Maybe I am too sensitive about the whole thing. With my Asperger's it is hard to read people so I tend to over think any encounter. But bottom line is I am doing the best I can and if they don't like it then they can come over and build the new fence and put up a new shelter.

 

[hoppy]

lets all think good thoughts and the hurriacane blows out to sea.

 

[buckabucka]

lets all think good thoughts and the hurriacane blows out to sea.

Yes. Should be interesting here, with the chickens in their hoop coop. We've had hoop houses blow away twice now, but we hadn't remembered to stake them down at that point. The hoop coop is much heavier than the hoop houses, but still, I won't be sleeping well if we get severe winds.
I guess staking will be our weekend project too.

 

[gracejr]

Since this is my first year with yard animals... What should we be doing for the chickens? They have a shed, two windows and a big giant vent up on the south wall. I'm assuming I should tarp the vent just in case, eh? Nate works all weekend and I'm sick, so it should be *really* fun getting the yard picked up, kids toys secured, and breaking down the frame pool that's still sitting in the yard... ugh!

We have city water, so do I really need to do the whole fill the bathtub thing? We have bottled water, plenty of canned food (oldest son is ADDICTED to soup!), no generator (or heat, since that is electric), but at least we have the camp stove, grill, and plenty of flashlights. Just hoping it doesn't flood our downstairs. The joys of a crappy built split-level.

At one point I heard we were going to get snow with this, anyone know if that's true?

 

[hoppy]

dont tarp the vent, it defeats the purpose of it. cookstove only outside due to carbon monoxide. and lastly only mother nature knows the answer to if we are getting snow with the storm, what comes, will come. dont' worry so much about water for the animals, you can set up a barrel or buckets outside to catch rain if you have to. just have all their buckets filled to start with.

Since this is my first year with yard animals... What should we be doing for the chickens? They have a shed, two windows and a big giant vent up on the south wall. I'm assuming I should tarp the vent just in case, eh? Nate works all weekend and I'm sick, so it should be *really* fun getting the yard picked up, kids toys secured, and breaking down the frame pool that's still sitting in the yard... ugh!
We have city water, so do I really need to do the whole fill the bathtub thing? We have bottled water, plenty of canned food (oldest son is ADDICTED to soup!), no generator (or heat, since that is electric), but at least we have the camp stove, grill, and plenty of flashlights.

Just hoping it doesn't flood our downstairs. The joys of a crappy built split-level.

At one point I heard we were going to get snow with this, anyone know if that's true?

 

[gracejr]

Tarping, I was worried about because it is such a large open area, if rain pours in from that direction. It's the top wall section of the gambrel roof on the shed, so pretty big open space. I just don't want it getting too wet in there. It's been fine so far, facing south AND near the tree line, but, you never know.

 

[hoppy]

if it's just for the storm, you might want to, just remember that the birds need the vent to get rid of gas that builds up in the coop over winter so if you cover it and might not be removing it, don't completely cover it.

Tarping, I was worried about because it is such a large open area, if rain pours in from that direction. It's the top wall section of the gambrel roof on the shed, so pretty big open space. I just don't want it getting too wet in there. It's been fine so far, facing south AND near the tree line, but, you never know.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Second on the water buckets, and absolutely fill them up first. Last year with Irene I had to use the duck pool to give water to the chickens (the ducks were killed about a week before Irene so the water was clean). I was so glad I filled it up. We heated up our human food outside on the propane grill or indoors on the wood stove. Might want to also make some ice now, if you can to keep in the freezer and keep your stuff colder. Lastly, if it's going to be terribly windy during a day, I might leave the chickens locked in their coop (with the vents and windows open) for safety sake.